


One Step in Front of the Other

by Minkar



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Haruno Sakura, Gen, Haruno Sakura-centric, Hatake Kakashi is a Bad Teacher, Mother Hen Shiranui Genma, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Strong Female Characters, Strong Haruno Sakura, Terrible writing, Uchiha Sasuke Being an Asshole, has not been edited
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22757587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minkar/pseuds/Minkar
Summary: It's time she stops chasing after Sasuke. It's time that she starts taking her career seriously. It's so damn long overdue time.It all began with Uchiha Sasuke, but it will end without him.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura & Shiranui Genma, Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura & Uzumaki Naruko
Comments: 16
Kudos: 248





	1. Prologue

‘Useless.’ 

‘You can’t even throw a kunai right.’

‘You’re just dead weight.’ 

His words echo loudly in her ears, like the beat of a drum, steadily increasing in intensity. Her face is buried in her knees, arms around them hugging herself tight as she softly trembles. There are often nights like this. Nights where she questions why she’s training, why she holds her weapons, why she comes back feeling worse than the scum on her shoes. It always comes back full circle. To the same answer. 

It all began with Uchiha Sasuke. Years of seeking his approval, to see his smile, to be the one who can share in his burdens. But its all for naught, for she is weak. Weaker than the so called dead-last of the class, weaker than the leaves clinging to their tree. All those days wasted, dieting, prettying herself up for his attention, losing her only friend over the boy. How foolish has she been? Well, it came and stabbed her in the back. 

She’s been in denial for so long. Ignoring the whispers in her mind, altering her truths to save her heart. But it all has to come down tumbling at some point, when the cracks have spread too far for repair.  
\---

Today's training had been the final strike on an already crumbling building. Kakashi-sensei decided to change up training today. Its only been a week since the mission in Wave, so he thought Sasuke should take it easy for a while. Meaning, having Sasuke spar with Sakura. Because Sakura couldn’t possibly be a challenge for Sasuke. Because Sakura is weak. Sasuke did not take kindly to being coddled, and so he took it out on her. Hard. Every kick, every jab, deliberately aimed at where it would hurt and bruise the most. Never giving her a chance to regain her footing. All the will spewing out vile words of her useless. “Just how weak are you? I barely hit you.” Lies. “ Useless. You’re so useless, you weren’t even able to protect our client properly.” She tried. “At this rate you’re only gonna drag this team down.” She knows. 

The rest of the day went by in a haze, going through the motions of walking home, putting on her best smile while telling her parents about how fun training was, stripping away her clothes and tending to her wounds. 

By the time the moon had risen high, Sakura had already sunken down on the bedroom floor, stuck in the deep recesses of her thoughts.  
\---

The corners of her eyes prickle with unshed tears. Funny how irony works. Here she is at her weakest, yet her crybaby self refuses to rear its ugly head. It's probably because, these thoughts, these words, she's known them since a long time ago. The only difference this time, is that she's listening loud and clear. 

It's time she stops chasing after Sasuke. It's time that she starts taking her career seriously. It's so damn long overdue time. But at least it's here and now, while she's still a genin, and that's more than enough for her who has a lot of catching up to do.

How to start is the question. Actual food? It's been so long since her arms felt like more than bones. Training, expanding her stamina and reserves is another thing she desperately needs to improve. From day one she's been a paper ninja, knowing all the theory and answers, but can’t do shit about putting it in practice. That needs to change first and foremost. 

While grasping together a plan in her mind, for the first time that night, Sakura looks up, head held level and not towards the ground. The first thing she sees is her reflection in the mirror. Looking in full detail of what she’s become. Bringing her frail arm upwards, she grasps a lock of her hair. Pink, long flowing hair. Easy to get tangled in, to be pulled on, and to be seen. 

Gritting her teeth and steeling her resolve, Sakura grabs kunai out of her pouch. And she starts to shave away. Lock by lock, pink strands fall to the flow. To the very base of her hairline, she cut, leaving the back of her neck bear, exposed to cold air. The kunai drops to the ground with clank. Sakura stares at herself dead on in the mirror. She's no longer trembling.

This is her first step, and it won’t be her last.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura starts getting her shit together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uhh, it's been like 2 months since the the first part. Tbh I kinda forgot about the fic and its been on the backburner for a while now. But I'm back I guess. This chapter's a bit choppy and was cram written as a byproduct of the stress over final exams. 
> 
> Hopefully, I'll be back with another chapter again sooner than another 2 months haha.

Sakura woke up at the crack of dawn. Her body still ached and her eyes felt dry. Nonetheless, she forces herself out of bed. It's become routine at this point. To wake up ridiculously early and then spend hours just waiting for Kakashi-sensei to show up. 

Thankfully today was a day off. She’s not in any state to face her team right now. But Instead of just lying around, she plans on using this time to start making some changes. 

Rummaging through her closet, a Majority of what she finds are her usual red dresses. But in the back she finds a small box. The box itself was still pretty new looking. Inside were a pair of beige shorts and a dark red shirt. It was a gift from her Father when she graduated from the academy. He gave this to her saying, “Training could get rough, so you might need a different outfit.”

Back then she scoffed at him and told him, no way is Sasuke-Kun going to look her way if she’s dressed like that. He didn’t argue back, but just looked at her sad and patiently, and insisted that she at least keep the clothes. 

Now, however, she couldn’t be more grateful. These clothes were light and durable. Exactly what she needed. Unlike her dresses that could easily be caught in foliage or flail in the wind. She’s definitely going to need more pairs later on, but she can deal with that another time. 

The clothes felt good on her. They fit comfortably and weren’t too snug. She really needs to give her Dad a proper thank you later. 

Before leaving the room, she took one last glance at herself in the mirror. Her hair was in a more boyish style. The cut itself was choppy, but it can be trimmed later. What was important was that it was light and out of the way. 

She didn’t quite look the part yet, but for the first time since deciding to walk this path, Sakura felt like a Shinobi.

* * *

She didn’t have as much luck in the kitchen unfortunately. 

The Haruno’s are a family of merchants, and so her mom and dad have been out on a business trip for a month and won’t be back for another two. Thus, its been up to her to stock up the kitchen and feed herself. 

And what a grand job of that she's done for herself so far. All the pantry has are fruits and vegetables, courtesy of her self imposed diet. No protein or carbs in sight. Sakura isn’t quite sure of what the best diet is for a training Shinobi, but it sure as hell isn’t what she has been doing for the last few years. 

With a sigh, she dug out the last of the remaining rice and whatever toppings she could find. Groceries and a book on nutrition have just been expedited to the top of her priority list.

* * *

Sakura eventually made her way over to an empty training ground. It took her a little while longer than she expected. She passed by a handful of teams training on their own without a Sensei. Hinata’s team was one of them, along with a group she didn’t know, though one of the members was wearing the greenest spandex Sakura has ever seen. 

Seeing these teams reminded her of how much disconnect there really is in her own team. Before she liked to think of them as somewhat close, but that was just an illusion she built up. In reality as soon as team training is over, Kakashi-sensei disappears in the blink of an eye, Sasuke leaves them in favor of training on his own, Naruto eventually leaves for ramen, and Sakura’s just left in the dust. 

It frustrates her honestly, and couldn’t help but feel a little bitter. Truthfully though, it's not like she did anything but add fuel to this freaking trainwreck. 

Sakura tries to clear her mind of these thoughts and get settled. She starts off simple with some stretches and warm-up exercises from the academy. By the end, she already feels a bead of sweat rolling down her face. 

She grits her teeth and pushes forward, there is no room to be self-deprecating right now. 

She transitions into practicing the academy katas. They are by no means very effective in battle, but at least for now they’ll give her a workout. After a while, she falls into a steady rhythm. Her breathing evens out and her movements a little less wasteful. 

An hour or so passes by and she feels the fatigue really set in. Just as she was about to stop for the day, she saw a flash of green run by in the distance. It’s the spandex kid from before. 

Is just running like that really effective? Sakura wonders. In hindsight, running is the most basic of exercises. But back in the academy, they were never really pushed to do those exercises much, just the katas and warm-ups. Then again, Sakura was never encouraged to light training prior to the academy, like most Clan kids did. 

Why not give it a go, she thinks. At worst, she’ll look like a flailing idiot. 

She starts jogging at a moderate pace. 

10 minutes later, her chest is burning and breathing ragged. All her muscles are screaming at her to stop. But she feels as though she’ll drop dead if she dares stop. Sakura has never more greatly wished she had put more effort into stamina than she does now. 

She trudges through an additional 10 minutes at a much slower pace before plopping onto the soft grass. She doesn’t know how long she lays there, but it's long enough for bugs to start crawling over her arms and wrists. 

A week ago, she’d be crying her head off over bugs, but right now she quite frankly doesn’t have it in her to care. She just slowly gets up and swats them off.

* * *

The walk to the library was painful to say the least, but she gets there in one piece. 

Sakura walks in. There’s a Shinobi biting on a senbon needle at the front desk. She hasn’t seen this guy on shift before, must be new. Sakura usually comes by here at least once a week and knows most of the staff. He probably got assigned, while Team Seven was in Wave. 

Just as he was about to open his mouth, Sakura cuts him off, “Haruno Sakura. Rank Genin. Assignment Team Seven…” She spits out all the mandatory identification protocols. She’s too tired right now to have an actual conversation, politeness by damned. When she finishes, she just looks at him expectantly. 

He stares back at her for a second before coughing, and proceeds with protocol. “Genin and below material, access granted.” 

She continues on her merry way, ignoring the odd looks the guy is giving her. Already knowing what she’s looking for, she grabs a few books on chakra exercises and natures, along with a much needed nutrition guide. 

Sakura sets down her hoard on a table, and reads away.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, thank you for taking you time to read this. This is the first fanfic I've posted, so if you could give any constructive criticism that would be great!


End file.
